The Young Astronaut program at Columbus Magnet School is an activity-based
curriculum using space and space travel as the backdrop for scientific inquiry.
As an after school enrichment program, it is open to grades one through five.
Unlike other after school activities, the Young Astronauts combine serious
learning with a sense of wonder and fun.

The fifth grade simulated mission is a year long program of intense learning
and training in preparation for a 24 hour space operation that is run each May.
The participants are divided between astronauts and mission controllers. Only
the most determined fifth graders volunteer for what is a demanding, yet
rewarding, year.

The fifth graders continue the science learning they began in earlier grades,
with a greater emphasis on hands-on scientific investigation. Additionally, many
sessions are devoted to the concepts and application of team building exercises
- skills that serve the astronauts and controllers well during the pressures of
a day long mission. These students also participate in community service and
charitable projects throughout the year. Finally, there is a distinct emphasis
placed on physical training, as the children learn that a fit body leads to a
fit mind.

About XVII
Quadragesimal

On July 20th, 1969, the human race accomplished the most notable
technological achievement in history when a man first set foot on another
celestial body. Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface and radioed one
of mankind’s most transcendent moments, “That’s one small step for man; one
giant leap for mankind.” It was the electrifying beginning act of the greatest
adventure of all time.

But what is sometimes lost to time are the missions that followed. The Apollo
moon missions did not begin and end with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Apollo
11. In all, there were five more manned lunar landings, each with a different
objective.

Apollo 17, which this year’s fifth grade Young Astronauts from Columbus
Magnet School celebrates, was the last of these great journeys. Landing on the
moon on December 11, 1972 and leaving three days later, this was the last of the
Apollo missions. In honoring the last human steps on earth’s nearest neighbor,
XVII Quadragesimal not only looks to the glory of America’s past, nearly 40
years ago, but also to the future.

At the end of his third and final lunar EVA, Gene Cernan gazed out at sites
that only a very select fraternity could ever claim to have witnessed. He saw
the stark, barren lunar landscape of the Taurus Littrow Valley. Here, he and
geologist, Harrison Schmitt, had gathered the largest cache of moon samples (253
pounds) of any Apollo flight. As Cernan prepared to enter the lunar module,
Challenger, he looked up and saw Earth, a shining blue and white marble, the
only color in the absolute blackness of space.

The last words ever spoken while standing on the moon were just as inspiring
as Neil Armstrong’s first words. For with them, Gene Cernan did not so much
write the last chapter of America’s exploration of the moon, but rather the
introduction and challenge for future generations to follow in Apollo’s
footsteps:

“… as I take man's last step from the surface…I'd like to just say what I
believe history will record; that America's challenge of today has forged man's
destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we
came and, God willing, as we shall return: with peace and hope for all mankind.
Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17.”

This year’s 18 Columbus Young Astronauts of XVII Quadragesimal have taken the
gauntlet from the inspiration of Apollo 17. “Futurus est nostra” – “The future
is ours”. We shall return to the moon and go beyond and these 18 young people
are, indeed, our future.